Salesforce Transit Center Park

Recently re-opened roof top park in San Francisco. Peaceful garden 5 stories above the street. Views of surrounding buildings from a different perspective. A great "Bus Fountain". And lots of eavesdropping opportunities! – Cathy McAuliffe

Museum of Craft and Design: It's Not Just About Seeing, It's About Making

When I go to a museum I typically get antsy but not if there are maker stations! The Museum of Craft and Design not only had maker stations but they even gave us stickers so I added them to my sketch just for fun. -- Vivian Aldridge

Fare Please

Went to the San Francisco Railway Museum and learned all about the streetcar system in the city. Great displays and artifacts from the system's history. I remember fare boxes like these and the sound they made when the operator turned a crank and all the coins would clank into the collection box.
— Cathy McAuliffe

History on Display at Rincon Center

When they were converting Rincon Annex Post Office into Rincon Center a complex of shops, restaurants, offices, and apartments in San Francisco there was archaeological as well as construction work going on. Besides saving the exterior of the Post Office completed in 1940, the lobby and
the renowned "History of California" mural, composed of 27 watercolor murals painted by Anton Refregier artifacts from the earlier history of the location were saved and are on display. – Cathy McAuliffe

Crows Amid the Deco at Rincon Center

Rincon Center, located on Mission Street in San Francisco is quite mysterious in the morning.
If you walk by, you will see crows thick as thieves in the trees along the street, and my oh my...do they raise a ruckus.  Later in the day however, they all leave and one can walk into the lobby to enjoy the old post office whose interior has been refurbished to its original deco beauty. Not only that, but you can also enjoy 27 WPA murals by Anton Refregier. --- Vivian Aldridge

Transit Center Desert

One day before the transit center closed down due to a crack in a supporting beam I painted this desert garden in the park. If this transit center and park remains closed for a very long time perhaps I should add a tumbleweed to this scene.--Vivian Aldridge

Transit Center and Salesforce Park

I made a return visit to the new San Francisco Transit Center. The first time I was there were 20,00 other people in the rooftop park for the grand opening! Yesterday there was the "normal" lunchtime crowd. It was great both times. It is nice to have different views of the city and the park itself is lovely. – Cathy McAuliffe

Underneath it all at the New Transbay Terminal

Underneath the transbay terminal exists another world...not a world of trees and grass like the park on the top level but a world of massive beams and metal lattice. Feels like the year 2060. --Vivian Aldridge

Nothing like a chunky boat

Went to an event called  "Festival of the Sea" at Hyde Pier in San Francisco, and drew this chunky tug boat. I was so captivated by its shape I did not mind sitting in a fierce wind and turning into an ice cube :-) -- Vivian Aldridge

San Francisco Bay Area Sketches From Here and There

From old Oakland,  Pt. Reyes, to the rooftops of San Francisco, there are so many beautiful urban and natural landscapes! 

Pt. Reyes

From a rooftop garden in San Francisco

Chinese New Year Parade

The San Francisco is one of the few remaining night illuminated Parades in North America and the biggest parade celebrating the lunar new year outside of Asia. Started in the 1860's a the Parade and Festival have grown to be the largest celebration of Asian culture outside of Asia. 

It has also become a tradition for us to sketch the pre-parade as it is forming up on Market Street. The staging area is full of bands, lion and dragon dancers, giant puppets and floats. Maybe next year we will stay until dark and try sketching the parade when it is illuminated!– Cathy McAuliffe

San Francisco Old and New

Sketching the skyline from roof deck of One Kearny in San Francisco. This 11 story building was build in1902 and survivied the 1906 earthquake and fire. At the time it must have seemed very, very tall. In the background is the just finished Salesforce Tower. It is the tallest building in the city, 61 floors tall. And it does seem very, very tall! Besides the skyline we had great views down Market Street and down Third Street. — Cathy McAuliffe

Women's March 2018

Why go to only one Women's March? Oakland and San Francisco both wonderful events. Big crowds of marchers at both! – Cathy McAuliffe

The Book Club of California

The calmest place we have ever sketched! And right in the middle of downtown San Francisco. The quote by Sven Birkerts that is painted above the bookcases: To shut the book and step into the day is to make one kind of passage, and to pull away from the day to enter the book is to make quite another.— Cathy McAuliffe

Tall Buildings In A Single Bound

I have been in San Francisco three times in the past week. It gave me lots of opportunity to practice sketching architecture. I will need the warm up when I get to Chicago for the Urban Sketchers Symposium! — Cathy McAuliffe

Sketching at the Bay Bridge

From earlier this month. I love going back here to sketch. 

Car-na-VAL in San Francisco Mission District

Went to "Carnaval" today (took me awhile to pronounce it correctly) in the Mission District of San Francisco. The day was chilly but I enjoyed sitting in a cafe with my sketching group watching the the participants prepare for the parade. -- Vivian Aldridge

History Week

It was San Francisco History Week, at least for me. I had the opportunity to sketch at the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park research Library and the San Francisco Presidio Archaeology Lab. Learned more about early SF in both places!

The folks at the Maritime Library at Fort Mason brought out objects from the collection for us to sketch. Everything from a ship in a bottle to a model of a ship figurehead. They also included the history of each object that only added to the experience. The library is a great place to research anything to do with the maritime history of SF and while browsing through the books I came across a photo of my father taken in 1949 at his downtown Matson Line office! Thanks Gina Bardi for setting up the displays for us.

On Saturday we sketched the ongoing excavation of the 1815 Spanish fortress at the Presidio taking place in front of the Officer's Club. There are excellent on-site docents and archeologists who are a wealth of information! We also sketched at the lab where we saw many things that had been found at the Presidio, from boots to animal skulls to pottery. Thank you Megan Kane for arranging our day at the dig and lab.

You can see more sketches at https://www.meetup.com/SF-Sketchers/ (click the photos tab).
– Cathy McAuliffe